Today was definitely an improvement from yesterday, and I’m sure getting my butt moving first thing helped that!

FITNESS

I got a fantastic start to the day with a heart-pumpkin Spin class. I went back to Studio 360, a spin & yoga dedicated studio. I don’t like these classes as much as my Monday & Wednesday class at my other gym, but this certainly got a great sweat going. After that it was off to STS for a leg workout!

So I walk in and my trainer asks me, “so you want to do measurements?” My reaction was an ugly face and a grunt, “oh all right.” haha. I haven’t been measured since before the holidays so I was nervous to know for fact what I know just from feeling (that sounds funny, but I think you know what I mean). Any who.. I promised honesty.. I’m up 11 lbs from my competition weight, my caliper measurement went up but I’m thankful to still be under 10% body fat, and my measurements each went up a bit (most in my waist). So it wasn’t pretty, but I suppose it could have been worse. And after taking out nut butters and moving around my macro timing I’m already feeling so much better, less bloated and less heavy. I think building is actually harder than cutting because cutting has such a specific goal.. loosing body fat. While with building you are trying to keep your body fat down, but need to be consuming large amounts to build muscle, and frankly sometimes I just don’t want to eat all that. I suppose this is my first formal ‘build’ because leading up to my first show I was really just discovering how my body would respond to training and had a much farther way to go (when I started training I was around 133 pounds and 17% bf).

NUTRITION

I finally got around to trying my crock-pot steelcut oats. They were really good, but I think I still prefer the fresh off the stove standard variety. I was surprised how sticky these came out. I mixed in ~1/4 c UVAB and 1/2 scoop Protein Powder before heating it up in the microwave. Then I mixed in 1 tbsp Chia seeds and topped them with 1 tbsp Coconut Butter.

And a better view of the new pretty bowl..

After Spin I had a quick Protein Yogurt snack before heading off to weights.

A Lovely Cheat

My cheat meal came early this week. I had lunch plans at one of my favorite Phoenix spots, Postino Winecafe. I’d gone here for a business lunch while I was prepping for the fitness competition and spent the meal drooling over the other person’s panini while I had a plain chicken salad with no dressing. So this place had been on my list to visit post-comp.

Splendid..

Mozzerella & Tomato Jr.

My lunch was 1/2 Turkey Panini with smoked turkey, vine rippened tomatoes, provolone, fresh greens and homemade pesto + 1/2 Mixed Greens Salad with candied pecans, red grapes, gorgonzola, crispy leeks and poppyseed vinaigrette..

Postino’s is know for their Bruschetta. And checkout the spread my roommate got..

Just funny.. my tea bonding with my friend’s jug of beer

Repeat!

Dinner was very similar to what it’s been the last couple days. One spaghetti squash makes so much and I don’t want it to go to waste, plus it’s darn good!

1 c Spaghetti Squash topped with 2 oz grilled Tofu, 1/3 c Cottage Cheese, 1/4 Avocado. Luvin..

Fun Links

Love this post from The Swanky RD on the 7 Things Experts Won’t Eat

Lots going on with STS social media Check’em/me out on Twitter & Facebook!

Gah, I can’t believe tomorrow’s Thursday, this week is flying by! My cheat lunch totally hit the shop today.. So I’m curious.. what’s your absolutely favorite restaurant and your favorite meal there?

The lovely Lizzy gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award.. thank you so much

7 Things you probably didn’t know about me:

1. I’m an only child. I have to admit I have a few of the symptoms :p
2. I have a cat named Killer who acts more like a dog.. he even plays fetch. He’s traveled with me from Berkeley to Seattle to Baltimore to Texas to Phoenix. I’m, perhaps excessively, protective of him.
3. If calories didn’t count and I had to pick only one thing to eat the rest of my life, it would be yogurt parfaits with lots of granola.
4. I’m extremely uncertain if I ever want to have children, but if I do, my favorite names are those that could be either a guy’s or a girl’s.
5. I’m glad the holidays are over. I feel a little grinchy for admitting that, but I get tired of the emphasis on food and material possessions.
6. Yoga is maybe the only thing keeping me sane as I figure out this whole ‘building’ diet thing.. (further explanation later, sorry for the negative-nelly-ness).
7. Lately I’ve been having a crazy urge to travel and have just been feeling overall restless… I believe the word is ‘wanderlust.’ Isn’t that a fantastic word?! I could be absolutely anywhere 7 months from now. That’s so exciting!

And 7 people I award this too:

Vee at Vee Chats

Heather at Where’s the Beach

Kris at I Heart Wellness

Angela at Food is Love

Allie at Live, Laugh, Eat

Lexi at The Ramblings of a Health Student

Joanna at Fitness & Spice

FITNESS

I’ve been a cardio slacker.. I’ve been getting in a few spin classes a week and doing yoga most days, but I really need to get back into the running groove. Over the summer I got to a point where I almost enjoyed it, haha, yeah almost. But since my competitions I’ve hardly hit the treadmill at all and instead spoiled myself with only doing my favorite activities. Previously I’ve talked about the importance of finding what you like and sticking with that, but I think this is where working out for general health purposes, versus training for an event comes into play. I don’t think I’ll ever love running, I just get so darn bored, but it’s the best way to get in HIIT (and therefore fat burning cardio) and stamina training.

I know I’m just out of practice with it, and after a few weeks I’ll be back to where I was this summer.. actually craving a good sprint workout. But man, getting over that initial hurdle is no fun.

NUTRITION

It’s good, it’s bad, it’s ugly. I’ll start with the ugly..

Ugly

I have put on a tremendous amount of weight since my November shows, and although I haven’t been eating sparkling clean, I have been eating pretty healthy, so it’s frustrating. I don’t know exactly how much I’ve gained, because I’m not big on scale hopping, but I can feel it and see it, and I’m starting to get quite uncomfortable physically. I know I’m on track with nutrition when I’m hungry every couple hours and have few to no cravings. This has not been the case. I never anticipated it being so hard to “just eat healthy.” The proportion of protein/carbs/fat I’m suppose to be consuming is quite standard at this point, but I can’t seem to meet them. If I eat enough carbs, I don’t eat enough protein and visa versa.. not to mention my H20 consumption is pathetic on days I reach my carb goal. Even if I’m eating generally healthy by some unwritten rules, I haven’t been eating what my body really needs, and I know this based on my cravings. I’ve learned that I’m carb sensitive and do well on a relative high protein diet. But instead of responding to this and listening to those cravings, I’ve been eating what others deem “healthy.” Not good.

After my competitions, so many people asked me, “so, do you get to eat normal now?” To me, I suppose, “normal” meant not weighing all my food, not carrying a cooler with me everywhere and not being so specific with everything I consume. I wanted to be like many of the ‘healthy living/food’ bloggers I’ve seen and just throw a tablespoon of peanut butter and chocolate chips on my oatmeal, or have impressive lunches like this. But the truth is, my exercise habits and fitness goals aren’t normal, and I can’t pretend otherwise and can’t have it both ways. It’s taken me a month to figure that one out.. haha, yeah I’m a little slow :p So adjustments will be made.

Bad

Goodbye nut butters, it’s been lovely while it lasted; my taste buds will be disappointed, however my waistline and body fat % rejoice. Yeah, it’s true, nut butters have been booted. I actually rarely ate nut butters before getting into fitness, so who knows why I became so obsessed with eating them with practically ever meal after the competitions, but I think they’ve taken their toll. So my fats will be coming mainly from omega, coconut and olive oil, along with avocado, and limited portions of plain nuts.

If I’ve learned nothing else about fitness nutrition and dieting, it’s that every person is different, and it really is all about trial and error. So we can throw consuming nut butters on a regular basis into the error category. But please don’t get me wrong.. I think they’re great and healthy and when someday I’m not training for such a specific goal they will be a fantastic part of my daily diet.. but just not now.

Good

Yesterday I got a box in the mail from my mom with a few of the items I couldn’t fit in my suitcase. Included were a couple culinary tool treats: my new table set and a crockpot! Of course the first thing I had to test out in the crockpot was Steel Cut Oats! I used Angela’s recipe but substituted pumpkin (you’re shocked right :p ) for the banana and apple. By the time it was finished it was around 5:30pm and I wasn’t in the mood for oats, but I’m excited to try them tomorrow!

Protein Fun

Breakfast was a 1/2 fail.. tasted good, looked a mess. I attempted Kabocha Protein Pancake by pureeing 80 g of Kabocha slices with 2 tbsp Cottage Cheese, then mixed in 1 scoop Protein Powder, 3 tbsp Egg Whites, Spices, 2 tbsp UVAB, 2 tbsp H20 and Spices. Flavor was great but I must have had the heat too high because it overcooked the sides but still wasn’t done in the middle. ah well.. I topped it with WF Maple Syrup and ~1.5 tbsp TJ Omega Trail Mix. Tasted great!

Today’s snacks were protein filled and tasty! First, there was a fantastic Pumpkin Cookie Protein Shake with a TJ’s Blueberry Fiber Cake sprinkled on top. Oh, and check out my new bowl

Pumpkin Cookie Protein Shake

1 scoop Cake Batter Protein Powder

1 oz Firm Tofu

1/2 c cold Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea

1/4 c UVAB

1/4 c Pumpkin

1 Ice Cube (because that’s all that was left)

Blend & enjoy!

Later I had Chocolate Protein Yogurt topped with Maple Apples (the other new bowl.. this picture doesn’t do it justice, I’ll do better next time).

What am I eating?

So I started adding Chia Seeds &/or Wheat Germ to my oatmeal, but then I realized I wasn’t sure why. I’d seen other people do it, and of course I’ve heard of both of these and knew they were considered to be healthy, but I didn’t know the real ‘why’ behind why they were healthy and how they were potentially benefiting me. So I did a little research..

Wheat Germ: Sources of essential nutrients including Vitamin B & E, Fiber, Iron, Folic Acid, Potassium, Omega 3 fatty acids, and on. Vitamin E is an antioxidant said to protect against free radicals, while Omega 3s promote heart health. (Nutrition Suite 101)

Chia Seeds: Great source of Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids. Hydrophilic seed that potentially slows conversion of complex carbs to simple sugars. (Dr. Weil)

Sugar-Free Challenge Check-In

So far so great.. it’s only been 3 days after all :p If you missed my Sugar-Hatin’ Post, I’m giving myself extra incentive to avoid sugar by taking on the 30 Sugar-Free Days Challenge which was also featured on Zen to Fitness.

FUN

Lulu Love

Just another reason to love Lululemon. This is a great little tool designed to help you set and follow your goals: GoalTender

Organically Worth It?

Dr. Weil, who is a guest lecturer at IIN, offers these helpful lists:

12 Foods You Should Always Buy Organic

12  Foods You Don’t Have to By Organic

I leave you with this.. Killer assumes his blogging position

I’m off to find more clean crockpot recipes Have a wonderful 1st Monday of 2010!